Devan Nair

C.V. Devan Nair
3rd President of Singapore
In office October 23, 1981 – March 27, 1985
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew (1959-1990)
Preceded by	Benjamin Henry Sheares
Succeeded by	Wee Kim Wee
Member of Parliament for Anson
In office 1979–1981
Preceded by	P. Govindaswamy
Succeeded by	J.B. Jeyaretnam
Personal details
Born	August 5, 1923(1923-08-05) Malacca, Straits Settlements
Died	December 6, 2005(2005-12-06) (aged 82) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Singaporean
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Avadai Dhanam
Children	4
Profession	Labour unionist
Religion	Hinduism

Devan Nair a/l Chengara Veetil, also known as C. V. Devan Nair (Malayalam: ദേവന്‍ നായര്‍) (August 5, 1923–December 6, 2005), was the third President of Singapore and was elected by Parliament on October 23, 1981. He served as President until his resignation on March 28, 1985.

Youth

Nair was born in Malacca, Malaysia, the son of an Indian immigrant I.V.K. Nair, from Thalassery, Kerala. He and his family migrated to Singapore when he was 10 years old. When he was young, he received his education first at Rangoon Road Primary School and then at Victoria School where he passed his Senior Cambridge examination in 1940.

Career

Initially, a member of the Communist Anti-British League, he joined Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party in 1954. He was the only PAP member to win in the Malaysian general election, 1964, winning the Bangsar constituency, near Kuala Lumpur. He stayed in Malaysia after the Separation, forming the Democratic Action Party, but returned to Singapore to lead the labor union movement and founded the National Trades Union Congress. He entered Parliament in 1979 by winning the Anson seat in a by-election and retained the seat in the 1980 general election, but resigned the seat in 1981 to accept the largely ceremonial office of President. This resulted in a by-election of the Anson seat which was then won by opposition leader J.B. Jeyaretnam, the first time in Singapore since 1972 when an opposition party candidate won a Parliament seat.

Resignation

On March 28, 1985, Nair resigned in unclear circumstances. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stated in Parliament that Nair resigned to get treatment for alcoholism, a charge Nair hotly denied. According to Nair's counterclaim, he resigned under pressure when their political views came into conflict and Lee threatened to seek a motion in parliament to oust him as president. Nair also alleged that he was fed drugs to make him appear disoriented, and rumours were spread about his personal life in an attempt to discredit him. In 1999, an article about the case in the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail resulted in a libel suit by Lee.^[1] Some claimed that the suit was thrown out of court after Nair's counterclaim.^[2] However, in a letter to the New York Times, it is said that Lee agreed to discontinue the suit only when two of Nair's sons issued a statement, reported in the Globe and Mail on July 1, 2004, maintaining that Nair was no longer mentally competent to give evidence in court.^[3] The Globe and Mail statement concluded that "having reviewed the records, and on the basis of the family's knowledge of the circumstances leading to Mr. Nair's resignation as president of Singapore in March, 1985, we can declare that there is no basis for this allegation (of Mr Nair being drugged)."^[4]

Death

In 1995, Nair, with his family, migrated to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His wife, Avadai Dhanam, died on April 18, 2005. Nair died in the same year at around 2 pm, SST on December 6.

Family

Nair is survived by his daughter, three sons, and five grandchildren. His eldest son, Janadas Devan, is a senior editor with the Straits Times. His second son, Janamitra Devan, is a Vice President of the World Bank Group, and his third son, Janaprakash Devan is a private entrepreneur in Canada. His only daughter, Vijaya Kumari Devan continues to reside in Hamilton, Ontario.

Once during his political action during the 1950s, Devan Nair was detained in a Singapore prison by the British government. There, he read the writings of Sri Aurobindo, particularly the Life Divine and became his life-long admirer and disciple. He visited Pondicherry (now, Puducherry),and nearby Auroville a number of times and wrote and spoke on Sri Aurobindo's vision in USA, Canada and other countries.

References

1. ^ "SW: Former president Nair criticises suppression of dissent". singapore-window.org. http://www.singapore-window.org/sw99/90329gm.htm. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
2. ^ http://www.sgmlaw.com/PageFactory.aspx?PageID=252^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Letters:Devan Nair". New York Times. December 22, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/opinion/22iht-edlet.html. Retrieved August 2011. 
4. ^ "Former Singapore leader stricken by illness". singapore-window.org. http://www.singapore-window.org/sw04/040701gm.htm. Retrieved August 2011. 

• Former Singapore President Devan Nair dies^{[dead link]}
• Dodsworth & Brown Funeral Home (Robinson Chapel)^{[dead link]}
• "AROUND THE WORLD - AROUND THE WORLD - Singapore President Out - Drinking Problem Cited - NYTimes.com". query.nytimes.com. March 29, 1985. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1D71438F93AA15750C0A963948260&n=Top%2fNews%2fInternational%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fSingapore. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 

External links

• Devan Nair's self-revelatory foreword to Francis T. Seow's To Catch A Tartar, published 1994.

Political offices
Preceded by Benjamin Henry Sheares	President of Singapore 1981–1985	Succeeded by Wee Kim Wee
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by P. Govindaswamy	Member of Parliament for Anson 1979–1981	Succeeded by J.B. Jeyaretnam
Government offices
Preceded by Seah Mui Kok	Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress 1970 - 1979	Succeeded by Lim Chee Onn
Preceded by new position	Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress 1961 - 1965	Succeeded by ST Nagayan

Persondata
Name	Nair, Devan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 5, 1923
Place of birth	Malacca, Straits Settlements
Date of death	December 6, 2005
Place of death	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada